The Flower's Guardian Flame
by JeremyX
Summary: Rin, Yukio, and Shiemi are sent to find a fruit that can do almost anything, but a demon snake curses Shiemi! Now Shiemi has been shrunk to 4 inches tall, and the Exwires are struggling to find the cure! However, Shiemi likes the attention Rin is giving her, and Rin thinks she's cute when she's tiny... RinXShiemi GT story! Read & review! Cover image made by Iwama-chan on deiantART!
1. Just a Snake Bite

**A/N: OKAY, now for something completely different! I JUST finished watching this series (can't buy or rent the manga and don't wanna read online illegally and have my new laptop crash because my dad will kill me), and I saw this ADORABLE pic on deviantART, and I had to do something with that concept.  
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**Blue Exorcist (C) 2009-2014 Kazue Kato, Shueisha  
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**PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE! IT'S AN AMAZING SERIES! (But tell Animplex to lower the damn DVD prices, they're insane!)**

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><p>Blue Exorcist – The Flower's Guardian Flame<p>

Chapter 1 – Just a Snake Bite

"Ugh, how much farther do we have to hack through these stupid vines to get to this stupid temple?" groaned Rin Okumura, the twin brother of True Cross Academy student teacher Yukio Okumura.

The twins, along with fellow academy student Shiemi Moriyama, had been sent by the Order of the True Cross headquarters to retrieve a plant that was guarded in a sacred temple that was in the middle of a dense forest. Rin had been using a machete to hack at the vines without disturbing the spirits that lived in the forests too much.

Of course, he would prefer to use his sword, the Kurikara, and burn it all down, but his brother would not approve of such a rash and, even Rin would admit, foolish action. Besides, he might burn the plant, or worse, set off a tidal wave of angry spirits and even a horde of demons after them. So the boy was left with no choice but to keep hacking away.

"It's just a few more minutes, Rin," Yukio said shortly, not even glancing at his annoyed brother.

"You said that same crap a whole hour ago, you four-eyed mole face," Rin grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Yukio hissed, his glasses giving off a sheen that mirrored his brother's anger.

"You heard what I said!" Rin snapped, turning around.

"You're not making this any easier, Rin!" Yukio hollered.

"You never made it easy to begin with!" Rin shouted.

"Stop it, both of you!" Shiemi squealed, causing the quarreling brothers to snap their mouths shut. "I get that it's hot and you're both tired, but can't you two stop fighting about nothing for one day and work together? You do it so often when not on a mission, so start doing it on missions!"

Startled at the normally calm and quiet girl's sudden outburst, the twin sons of Satan looked at each other and sighed.

"Sorry, bro," Rin said, sincerely for someone of his maturity level.

"It's okay, we're all stressed," Yukio waved.

"So what is we're looking for again?" Shiemi asked, and the brothers instantly face-faulted.

"The reason you're here with us is because it's about a crazy magic tree!" Rin said, exasperated.

"Allow me," Yukio said, and brought out two pieces of paper.

One of them was a map of the forest and the surrounding area, and the other was of the item of their search: a tree shaped like a pale and thick-rooted palm tree but with fruit like apples hanging from its branches in place of coconuts. It was also very tall, according to the info, standing in at about twenty feet tall.

"That's a big tree," Shiemi gasped.

"And it's protected by powerful spirits," Yukio said, pointing to images of the surrounding area, and the forest was shown to be filled with all kinds of plant-like demons.

"What's so important about this thing, anyway?" Rin asked. "You told us this was mission straight from the high-ups at HQ, but you didn't tell us anything beyond the whole forest raider thing."

"The fruit from this plant have many myths surrounding them," Yukio replied, "One is that they're wishing apples, another is that they can heal any injury. In any case, it was important enough for HQ to request me to get a plant specialist on the job, and that's where you come in, Shiemi."

"What can I do?" she asked, blushing out of shyness.

"You're going to be the one to properly harvest the fruit when we find it," Yukio replied, "and Rin and I will keep the guardian demons distracted."

Suddenly, Rin's familiar, a Cat Sidhe named Kuro, jumped from Shiemi's shoulder and grew to his natural size, which was about the size of a garbage truck, and began to hiss in anticipation. Suddenly, the group could clearly hear howling in the jungle that was clearly not the cry of any normal animal.

"Speak of the devil," Rin grinned, and turned his machete around to wield like a sword.

Just then, the vines around them began to whip at the, trying to entangle the trio.

"The vines must be enchanted!" Yukio assumed, and fired a few blessed silver round before throwing two holy water grenades.

The grenades exploded and sprayed blessed water at the vines and worked like acid, dissolving them and making a whole form which they could see a clearing in the jungle and the temple they were searching for in the middle of the clearing. Trees still loomed above them, extremely tall, but everything looked safe enough.

"Looks like we were right on the money!" Rin cheered, and he swept Shiemi up, bridal style, and got her on Kuro, and the nekotama bolted for the temple, with Yukio close behind them.

"_That was awesome! Let's do it again!_" Kuro laughed. Of course, only Rin could hear the friendly demon's mental voice, so Rin gave a nod of approval.

"Shiemi!" Yukio barked. "I need you to seal up that hole!"

"Uh, right!" she said, and called out her familiar, Nee. "Nee, I need you to close up that hole with a bunch of vines!"

The greenman squealed, and raised its tiny arms. Instantly, huge roots sprung from the ground and closed up the hole.

"It looks like there's no demons here," Rin grinned. "Guess we scared 'em off!"

"Don't count on it," Yukio grimaced, holding his pistol out, waiting for an attack.

Sure enough, a giant plant, not unlike a Venus flytrap, sprung out from behind the temple. The mouth of the plant was so massive, Kuro gulped and feared that it could swallow him up in one bite. But instead of shooting directly at them, it opened its mouth and shot a stream of blue liquid at them.

"Dodge!" Yukio barked, and they all ran to avoid the stream, which dissolved the grass beneath their feet. "Rin, get Shiemi to the temple! I'll handle things here! It may look big, but plant demons can only be so powerful!"

"Just don't die on me, you got that?!" Rin growled, and nodded to Kuro, who darted towards the temple.

Vines shot up from below to trap them, but Rin's sword (not Kurikara, but a common katana) and Kuro's claws sliced them up. Eventually, they made it to the temple, and Rin and Shiemi ran inside. Strangely, there were no demons inside and the plant was the only thing inside of the temple. In fact, one would barely call it a temple at all; the building was more like a large shrine. There was only on large room, and the tree was growing in a gigantic pot in the middle of the room.

"I don't sense anything in here," Rin said. "This is way too easy."

It was no secret to Shiemi that Rin could sense demons due to being the son of Satan, but she found it odd that not even he could sense anything near so valuable a plant as this one.

"Well, I'll go harvest the fruit anyway," Shiemi said.

Before Rin could object, Nee had already harvested all of the fruit, which fell into Shiemi's padded backpack that was provided for the mission by Yukio.

"Like you said, Rin," she smiled, "it was easy!"

Suddenly, a snake came out from the shrine-temple wall and bit Shiemi's arm, causing her to drop the bag and scream in pain.

"Shiemi!" Rin gasped, and instinctively unsheathed Kurikara, causing his tail to emerge from beneath his school uniform, his ears to become long and spiked like a demon, and bright and intense blue flames to surround his body. The snake turned out to be a demon, as it grew to a large size inside the shrine, and its fangs were dripping with red, but it was clearly not Shiemi's blood.

"_That bite must have a weird kind of demon venom in it,_" he thought to himself, and quickly ran behind it, slashing its head off from behind.

Amazingly, the back attack worked, and the head came off cleanly, spewing out the demon's blood, but it did not touch Rin. He wiped the blood of the blade with a rag and stuck it back in the sheath, causing his flames to go away and his ears to shorten back to their pseudo-normal length. He then ran to Shiemi and took her in his arms, picking up the bag, and dashing out of the shrine.

"Quick, bro!" Rin shouted. "Get us out of here!"

"I'm a little busy here!" Yukio said, still fighting off the plant demon.

Rin scanned the area, trying to find the root of the plant. His eyes soon fell to the back of the shrine, and he and Kuro sliced at it in unison with sword and claw, causing the stalk to slice in several pieces and the plant fell over, its life ebbing away. Yukio sighed and put his gun away, relieved.

"Nice work, Rin," he smiled.

"No time for that!" Rin said. "Shiemi got bitten! We got to get out of here, pronto!"

"Right!" Yukio nodded, aware of the situation, and jumped onto Kuro, who then took off into the sky, slashing the trees that got in their way.

{+}

Much later that day, at the infirmary of True Cross Academy, the healers looked over Shiemi's condition, while Rin and Yukio stood off to the side concerned for their classmate and friend. Kuro also looked sadly at the unconscious Shiemi on the bed, but Rin comforted him by petting his head.

"It's gonna be okay, Kuro," he smiled.

Just then, one of the healers came out. "This is rather strange," he said, "but there appears to be no demonic curse in the venom, or any harmful substance of any sort. It's just a common snake bite."

"But it wasn't a common snake that bit her!" Rin protested. "It was a demon snake!"

"Well, be that as it may," the doctor said, "there is nothing physically wrong with her."

"All the same," Yukio said, "I'd like to keep her under surveillance at our room so that we can monitor her condition."

The words 'her' and 'at our room' were enough for Rin to nod his head in vehement approval.

"Well," the doctor sighed, "I don't see why not."

"Awesome!" Rin cheered as the doctor fetched his patient. "Shiemi's gonna be staying with me!"

"Don't even think about it, Rin," Yukio warned. "This is just to make sure that there's nothing wrong with her."

"Killjoy," Rin muttered, but was still happy that it didn't bother him all that much.

As they walked down the hallway, the trio could see their classmates Ryuji Suguro, Konekomaru Miwa, Renzo Shima, and Izumo Kamiki come up to them.

"We heard the news about Shiemi and the mission from the director," Konekomaru said.

"Is she all right?" Suguro asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry," Shiemi waved, and walked away, perfectly fine.

"She'll be staying with us for the night so we can monitor her condition," Yukio explained.

"Aw, man!" Shima whined. "A night with Shiemi? What a lucky pair you two are!"

"It's not a sleepover, you idiot," Izumo shot icily, per the norm for her. "I can't believe you'd even think about that after she was attacked by a Drosca."

"A what?" Shima asked, sounding rather stupid.

"It's a flytrap demon, idiot," Suguro said. "It's big, but it's far from dangerous. Its stalk is surprisingly easy to break, and it's pretty common in forests and jungles. Even beginners know thins kinda stuff."

"I guess I forgot that part," the monk shrugged, chuckling sheepishly.

"Or maybe you fell asleep during Mr. Okumura's lecture last week," Konekomaru grinned devilishly.

Shima whined, and the rest laughed, even the normally stoic Izumo.

"Well, we'd best be off," Yukio said. "I'll have a substitute in the morning if things turn for the worst."

With that, the trio went towards Yukio and Rin's apartment. The second they entered, Shiemi and Rin could smell a most delicious smell.

"Sounds like Ukobach is cooking up something awesome," Rin said before heading off towards the kitchen. "I'll go see if he needs help…" he grinned evilly as he slinked off.

"Oh brother," Yukio sighed as he helped Shiemi to the spare room.

{+}

True to Rin's assumption, Ukobach, the familiar of Director Mephisto Pheles and the Okumura's personal chef in their dorm, had whipped up a delicious stew for supper. Rin managed to spice things up with his own skills, and the demon was very grateful since he and Rin were cooking rivals. The meal was well received all around, and there were second helpings for everyone.

"You're really good, Mr. Ukobach!" Shiemi praised, and the stove spirit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You should thank Rin as well!" she added, and Rin chuckled and blushed as well.

"I'll go deliver the fruit to Mr. Pheles," Yukio said, taking the bag. "We'll be able to create our own crop and grow our own fruit in the garden soon enough." He then looked at Shiemi. "And we'd be honored if you would consider working there as the gardener and botany expert."

"Expert?" Shiemi blushed. "I know a little, but it hasn't helped me in the exams."

"Don't be so modest," Yukio said. "You'll do great. Now, I'll be off. Stay out of trouble, Rin."

"HEY!" the elder twin protested, but Yukio laughed it off as he walked away. "Four-eyed mole face."

{+}

As the two Exwires slept in opposite rooms, they had no idea that something was gliding through the hallway to Shiemi's room. The something gave off a faint red glow that no one had any clue about, and it had the shape of a snake, but it looked more like it was smoke. As it slithered under the door, it gazed at the sleeping girl in the bed and its eyes glowed blue.

And, in that instant, it turned into a gas and shot itself into her ears and nose, unaware that it did, in fact, be seen.

{+}

Rin was sleeping soundly, albeit loudly snoring, when Kuro barged in and pounced on him. Rin clumsily got up and looked at the familiar, and noticed that his eyes were wide with fear.

"What's up, Kuro?" he asked, yawning.

"_It's Shiemi!_" he cried telepathically. "_Something got into her room!_"

"What!?" the boy gasped, now fully awake, and bolted out the door, running to Shiemi's room.

He tore the door open, and gasped. Shiemi had vanished without a trace.

"Shiemi!" he cried, and tore the sheets off the bed.

It was then that his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Shiemi was there, all right, and in her bed kimono, but she had somehow mysteriously shrunk to a mere 3 inches tall. Besides her sudden and unprecedented size change, there was nothing else wrong with her at all.

For a long time, Rin did not move or even breathe. Eventually, however, he sneezed and sniffed. That involuntary action was what caused the shrunken girl to bolt up, fully awake, and cause Rin to suck in his breath in worry.

"Huh?" Shiemi gasped, looking around her. "Why is everything so… big?" She then whimpered in fear, and slowly looked up at Rin. "R-R-Rin!?"

"Sh… Shiemi…" the boy stuttered, trying to calm her down but not able to calm himself down.

After just one look, the poor girl fainted, and Rin instantly picked her off of the bed and carried her back to his room, gently placing her on the nightstand. Rin took a closer look at Shiemi, stupefied at this sudden happening.

"Well, Rin," he sighed to himself, "I guess it wasn't just a normal snake bite after all."

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><p><strong>AN: Well, this is interesting, huh?**

**In case you don't know, I've had a fascination with G/T, or "giant/tiny" stories since my mam read me Jack and the Beanstalk. This just came to me today, and I ran with it! Imagine, 3000 words in one day on one thought!**

**Anywho, there will be more of this for sure, I decided to do this as a series. And it will be amazing!**

**BTW, here's the pic I mentioned if you wanna look at my this up in "Iwama-chan"'s library. This site keeps gumming up the address.  
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** iwama-chanDOTdeviantart**DOT**com/art/What-beautiful-flower-I-found-461359121**

**-JeremyX signing off!**


	2. That Shrinking Feeling

**A/N: Okay, this story is starting to get recognized! Lesson learned, leave a story alone and after a while, people pick up on it!**

**Anyway, here we go with the plot! Don't worry, fellow RinXShiemi fans, there will be fluff! Just not now! Good things come to those who wait!**

**Blue Exorcist (C) 2009-2014 Kazue Kato, Shueisha  
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**PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE! IT'S AN AMAZING SERIES! (But tell Animplex to lower the damn DVD prices, they're insane!)**

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><p>Chapter 2 – That Shrinking Feeling<p>

When Yukio got to True Cross Headquarters in the Vatican, which was a short trip thanks to his special magic key, the Grigori and the entire Order of the True Cross was in a state of confusion after the events concerning both Neuhaus' betrayal and Rin's trial, the latter of which occurred a sparse week ago. Of course, thanks to the persuasion of True Cross Academy Director Mephisto Pheles, Rin was spared on the condition that Shura Kirigakure, a Knight ranked Exorcist, and Yukio himself would keep Rin under close and careful supervision as he trained to master his demonic powers. After a few first days of Rin and Yukio's anger management issues (and Rin accidentally burning Shura and Yukio's clothes off more times than either one would disclose), Rin was able to partially control his flames and channel them through his sword more efficiently.

However, Yukio's meeting with Mephisto was not about Rin's improvement, or even about Rin or Yukio in general. He was sent to hand over the fruit that Shiemi had collected from their last mission. As he thought of that, he wondered if there was truly anything wrong with Shiemi's condition. The doctors did clear her, so he thought that his nerves were talking. Still, he could not shake the feeling that something was not right.

He soon arrived at Mephisto's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in, Mr. Okumura," he called out from behind the door. "We've been expecting you."

When he opened the door, he found Shura was in the room as well, along with a few strange people in suits holding a high-tech looking piece of machinery.

"What's all this about?" Yukio asked, curiously.

"Didn't you get the memo, four-eyes?" Shura teased, which did not sit well with Yukio. "The boss here is testing a new machine to get something out of those fruit you and your brother got today." She then grabbed the bag from Yukio's hands and took one of the fruit out. "What are we ladies waiting for? Let's pop one in and let's see what happens!"

With that, the men placed the machine on a table, opened the top of the machine, and Shura tossed the fruit into the hole on the top like a basketball. The lights on the side blinked in many colors, and the machine made a high-pitched whining noise and started hissing. Yukio was intrigued as to what this machine did, but what he found out about it stunned him.

A ding rang out, and Mephisto smiled. "At long last!" He took out a large cup and placed it under the machine. With one press of a button, a red liquid poured into his cup, and he sipped from it. "Truly a divine fruit smoothie!"

For a long time, neither Yukio nor Shura moved from sheer shock.

"A… fruit smoothie…?" Yukio gawked, his jaw wide open in disgust and his eye twitching.

"Are you serious?" Shura growled, upset at the turnout. "That's it!?"

"Oh, don't be like that!" Mephisto said, giving the cup to the Knight. "try it for yourself!"

Shrugging, she took a sip and nearly dropped it in shock. "It's the most amazing thing I've ever tasted in my life! This is like all the best beer and grub in the world in one drink!"

"You see it as well!" Mephisto cheered, happy that Shura saw his point.

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?" Yukio suddenly shouted, earning the attention of everyone in the room. When the two looked at him, he looked like the veins on his forehead were about to burst and his left eye was twitching at random intervals.

"Sheesh, what's with you?" Shura winced.

"Was that whole story a lie, sir?" Yukio asked. "I'll have you know that Shiemi Moriyama may have seriously been injured by a Drosca while she was trying to recover those fruit you just ground into that… that _thing_!"

Shura's eyes visibly widened and the name seemed to send a shiver up the normally cool female Exorcist's spine. "What… did you just say?"

"Uh, Drosca?" Yukio repeated, unnerved by the sudden change in attitude from Shura.

Suddenly, Shura got up and walked up to Yukio. "And you said that it bit someone?"

"Yeah, it bit Shiemi," he nodded. "But the doctors didn't…"

"We need to get to them right now!" she suddenly screamed. "This is not good at all!"

"If she says something's not good," Mephisto said, rather intimidated, "you know it's serious."

Yukio also picked up on Shura's suddenly alert behavior and nodded. "Okay, Shiemi's at our dorm. The key will take up back there in a flash."

Shura nodded and turned to Mephisto. "Keep the fruit safe, and for God's sake, don't make any more smoothies with them. There's a reason rare and powerful fruit are guarded by snakes."

With that, both Exorcists left and Mephisto turned to a small green hamster that was on a wheel. "Well, it seems as if our friends have a little problem on their hands. I hope it turns out okay."

Little did Mephisto know just how 'little' the problem really was.

{+}

Rin was pacing back and forth in his room, very nervous. Sometimes, he stole a glance at the tiny Shiemi who laid unconscious on his nightstand, and his pacing become even more rapid and frantic. He knew that there had to be a logical explanation for this phenomena; people don't just shrink for no reason. He thought back to the mission and knew that whatever snake-like thing that had bitten Shiemi must have caused this to happen to her somehow, but of the definite method behind her shrinking he had no idea. Not knowing what was the cause of this unexpected and unwanted event drove him further insane, and he almost lost control entirely had he not occasionally stopped for a drink at Kuro's insistence.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the special door opening, and he looked outside to see Yukio and Shura run to his room.

"Rin, where's Shiemi!?" Yukio gasped.

"She could be in serious danger!" Shura added.

"Uh," Rin stuttered, and pointed to his nightstand. "I think you might be a little bit late on that one."

Confused, the two stepped into Rin's room and soon discovered Shiemi on the nightstand, at a mere three inches tall. To make matters worse, it was at that precise moment that Shiemi came to, and bolted upwards, looking at everyone in the room with wide, terror-filled eyes.

"Oh, Yuki?" Shiemi gasped, using her nickname for Rin's brother, and then caught a glimpse of Shura. "Ms. Kirigakure? What are you all doing in here?"

"Sh-Shiemi?" Yukio gasped, leaning in slightly to get a better look at the shrunken Exwire. "What… the hell… happened to her?"

"Oh, good," Shura sighed, grinning. "This is actually better than I thought. Still bad, but not as bad."

"Not as bad!?" Rin barked. "Of course it's as bad, you idiots! You think she can go on the rest of her life when she's the size of Nii?"

The loud scream was enough for Shiemi to shriek and curl up into a ball, shivering like she had seen the devil. Rin, seeing this, silently cursed himself and slowly walked over to Shiemi, carefully picking her up and holding her gently in his hands, afraid that he may break her if not handled carefully.

"It's… it's okay," he said, shaking himself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled like that."

Shiemi slowly looked up to Rin's colossal face and looked down at his hands, which were shaking and making it feel like an earthquake to her.

"Uh, Rin," she said, "your hands are shaking."

"Oh, sorry," he said, and calmed down just enough to stop the shaking. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm all right," she said, and looked around at the other two Exorcists. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this, Yuki. I guess I'm not fine after all."

"Well, no duh!" Shura suddenly blurted. "You got bit by a Drosca! Those things have undetectable magic venom and no one can tell what it does until it's too late!" She then folded her arms over her prodigious and barely covered breasts. "I've never heard of the venom doing anything like this, though."

"Well, how do we fix it?" Rin asked impatiently.

"Do you have the remains of the demon's body?" the female Exorcist asked.

"Uh…" Rin started, but then remembered the body was still where it was. "We kinda left it behind as we were running away from the temple."

"Seriously!?" Shura gawked. "You didn't even get one of its fangs?"

"Well, excuse us if we were running for our lives from giant snakes and killer plants!" Rin barked.

"You don't even need your demonic flames to do something as simple as that!" Shura retorted.

"It's only simple for you!" Rin hollered, even louder. "I'd sure as hell like to see you do better!"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" a tiny voice piped up surprisingly loud.

Rin and Shura stopped their argument long enough to turn around and see Shiemi, riding on Nii, her tiny Greenman familiar, who was slightly taller than his Tamer. Apparently, she had curled a few leaves together to act as a megaphone to amplify her tiny voice so that the others could hear her.

"Stop fighting for once!" Shiemi continued. "Not only are you not getting anywhere at all, you're really scaring me!"

As she finished speaking, she started holding her arms around herself and shuddering. Shura blinked and sighed, shrugging, but Rin looked clearly more remorseful as his eyes fell to the ground and he could feel his tail droop under his uniform shirt. Kuro, upon hearing this, jumped from the table and slowly walked up to Shiemi, nuzzling his soft fur against her body. Shiemi was a bit intimidated by the Cat Sidhe's sudden action, but found his display of affection warm and welcoming as she nuzzled into his face.

"Sorry, Shiemi," Rin murmured, looking back at her.

"It's okay, Rin," she smiled. "I'd probably yell like that too if I was in your shoes."

_We'll get you back to normal, Shiemi!_ Kuro thought. _Don't worry about a thing!_

"Thanks for that, Kuro!" Shiemi grinned.

In that instant, Shiemi, along with the rest of the present company, gasped.

"WHAAAAAT!?"

"You can talk!?" Shiemi gasped, her hands over her mouth.

"You heard him talk!?" Rin gawked.

"She heard him talk!?" Yukio gasped, for he could not hear Kuro like Rin could.

_You heard me talk!?_ Kuro gasped, his big green eyes even bigger now.

"Interesting," Shura said, rubbing her chin in thought. "It seems that Shiemi is able to communicate with Kuro just like you can, Rin. Shiemi now possesses demon telepathy."

"Is that a possible side effect of the venom?" Yukio queried. "Like alchemy's 'Equivalent Exchange' law?"

"I'm not sure," Shura stated, "but we can't rule it out as a possibility."

"This is all so bizarre," Shiemi said, staring into Kuro's large green eyes, which were especially to her and were even bigger now that she could hear him.

_Shiemi?_ a timid voice said from behind the shrunken Tamer, and Shiemi turned around to see Nii, with a worried look on his leafy face. _Can you hear me too?_

"I… I can!" Shiemi nodded, slightly smiling as she hugged the Greenman. "At least I know you guys want to help me."

_Of course we wanna help you!_ Kuro smiled, nuzzling Shiemi again, who hugged him back. _You're Rin's very special friend, and that makes you my friend too!_

Shiemi and Rin both blushed from Kuro's words. "Well, how about we go and get that dead snake already?" Rin asked, trying to change the subject, even though only he and Shiemi could hear what the familiars were saying.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Shura sighed. "And here I thought we were going to stay stuck here debating how weird this is."

"Oh, we'll get into that later," Rin said nonchalantly as he placed his hand on the nightstand, allowing Shiemi and Nii to climb on. Kuro jumped onto his shoulder and Rin deposited Shiemi and Rin into his jacket shirt's breast pocket. "Right now, we gotta get that snake!"

"Should you really bring her with us?" Yukio asked. "It seems rather unwise, given her… current stature."

"Shiemi's coming with us since I don't want her to stay here by herself!" Rin protested. "She could get herself hurt just from doing nothing!"

"Sounds to me like you wanna play papa wolf, kiddo," Shura teased.

Rin felt his face grow hot and Shiemi heard his heart skip a beat and get faster. "Sh-shut up!"

"Fine, fine," Shura waved, "let's just get this over with."

With that, they all headed out the door and to the shrine, hoping to get the first clue that would get Shiemi back to her normal size.

What they did not see was a wisp of red vapor, leaving the house and flying into the distance into the opposite direction, towards a lake at the edge of town. The smoke wisp turned into the form of a snake and slithered down to the sandy beach and into a cave near the cliff side. It made a series of clicking sounds, and danced a bit, but did not move further into the cave. Two people, dressed in armor with snakelike eyes, came out from the darkness to greet the snake, and led it to a pool inside of the cave.

"So," a raspy voice called out, "you found my temple Drosca's killer, eh?"

The snake nodded, and spat out a stream of red energy, which morphed into the shape of a boy with blue hair and slightly spiky ears: Rin Okumura, son of Satan.

"The Son of Satan!?" the voice gasped, shocked.

The snake people in the room trembled at heir leader's outburst and at the mention of that name, but soon recomposed themselves upon hearing a loud hiss. The tiny snake at the foot of the throne hissed, and the fog reshaped into a girl: Shiemi Moriyama.

"So you infected this girl to get to the son of Satan," the voice said, with pleasure in its tone. "Very good. He'll try to find a cure, but that will be the least of his troubles."

"Because the only cure for a Drosca's curse… is me."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Dun, dun, DUUUUUUN! CLIFFHANGER! Lol, Mepphy is a derp and poor Yuki ain't happy! Also, do you like how Shiemi can hear Kuro and Nii now? More is to come, especially what some of you all came to see in G/T fluff, so stay tuned! Also, there's a little "other anime" joke in here if you know where to look!  
><strong>

**-JeremyX signing off!**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


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